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Press release: FlexEnable wins prestigious Disruptive Innovation of the Year at the TechWorks Awards

23 November 2018

Cambridge (UK), 23rd November 2018 – FlexEnable, the leader in the development and industrialisation of organic electronics for flexible displays and sensors - has won the prestigious Disruptive Innovation of the Year Award for 2018 at last night’s TechWorks Awards.

FlexEnable has been recognised for its glass-free, conformable organic liquid crystal display (OLCD). The technology, which uses organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) on a plastic sheet, brings the same vivid colour and smooth video content as glass-based LCDs. Compatible with existing LCD production lines and scalable to large area, this technology is currently being transferred to mass production in China, to meet the immediate market needs for flexible displays in applications including consumer electronics, automotive and digital signage, representing an $80Bn addressable market.

The awards celebrate the year’s key electronics innovations, people and companies from across the UK and Ireland. The TechWorks Awards have run annually since 2001 - originally branded as the NMI Awards. The Disruptive Innovation Award is given to the company that can demonstrate a significant business impact through innovation. This can cover any aspects of innovation whether in business process, manufacturing, service provision or product development.

The award was presented by the renowned Journalist John Sergeant, who highlighted the “many great entries covering a wide spectrum of technologies” that were received this year.

Adding: “These organic LCDs (OLCD) will change where and how displays are used in our lives, and transforming product design in ways unimaginable until now.”

FlexEnable’s OLCD technology is four times thinner (less than 0.3 mm) and more than ten times lighter than conventional glass-based displays, allowing the OLCD to be conformed to almost any surface.

Chuck Milligan, CEO of FlexEnable said: “We are very delighted to receive this prestigious award. This is a great recognition of the innovative technology breakthroughs achieved by the FlexEnable team over the past few years, and of FlexEnable’s disruptive technology platform, with its potential to revolutionise where and how flexible displays and sensors will be used. This potential is about to be realised as we complete our technology transfer program to Truly Semiconductors in China, with first displays available to strategic partners in early 2019. As the lowest cost, highest reliability and most scalable flexible display technology able to meet the needs of an $80Bn addressable displays market, we have an incredible list of brands and product companies who need OLCD to unlock new design freedom and applications in ways simply not possible with today’s glass displays.”

Last night’s awards were held at a prestigious venue near London’s Tower Bridge.

About FlexEnable

FlexEnable has pioneered the world’s first flexible electronics technology platform that allows electronics made of organic materials to be manufactured on flexible plastic film, the thickness of a sheet of paper. Compatible with existing manufacturing lines, it is the key to truly flexible and cost effective electronics over large and small surfaces. The core applications of this technology are glass-free, flexible displays and sensors that enable game-changing products across a variety of industries including consumer electronics, automotive, digital signage, wearables, medical and security. FlexEnable’s customers include OEMs, component manufacturers and materials suppliers. The company offers a comprehensive range of services-based packages for its technology platform including: ProductEnable™, MaterialsEnable™ and FabEnable™. www.flexenable.com

TechWorks is the UK Industry Association for ‘Deep Tech’; the underpinning technologies such as AI, robotics, 5G, machine vision, IoT, analytics and automation that drive the new economy.

Technology innovation has changed and is changing our world at an enormous rate creating new opportunities across all areas of industry and commerce. With this whirlwind of change comes huge political and societal changes, disrupting the established norms in all walks of life.

TechWorks is an industry association at the core of the UK deep tech community with an ambition to harness our fantastic engineering and innovation to develop the UK’s position as a global technology superpower.

TechWorks operates beyond established silos by:

* Creating dynamic, connected technical and business communities to empower innovation and collaboration, supporting business growth and investment

* Identifying the critical common challenges and leading responses to tackle them

* Developing the UK tech ecosystem and partnerships across industry, academia and government to ensure the UK is amongst the best location globally to start, build and scale a Deep Tech organisation